In a conventional merchant-consumer financial transaction, the merchant's point of sale terminal or online payment process engine submits a payment request to the acquirer (for example Chase PaymentTech, or other third party payment processing companies) for payment for the transaction. The acquirer then submits the request to authorize the transaction to the issuer (for example Citibank, CapitalOne, Bank of America, and other financial institutions to authorize payment) through the card network (for example VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover or other card processing networks). If funds are available, the issuer sends an authorization code to the acquirer through the card network, and the acquirer notifies the merchant of the approval for the payment transaction. The payment process involves a single payment request generated and submitted by the merchant. The request contains generalized information, such as the total payment amount and consumer account-identifying information encoded on the card's magnetic stripe, but the request does not contain item-specific information, such as the stock-keeping unit (“SKU”) number, or user identification information, such as an electronic mail address.
Conventional merchant-consumer financial transactions also have involved payment via a consumer's financial account, such as a debit card, credit card, or stored value card. The consumer card typically accesses only one type of account, which is maintained by only one issuer. For instance, an “issuer1” credit card accesses only the consumer's financial account from “issuer1,” and payment is approved/denied by a single issuer (“issuer1”). Approval or denial of the transaction is dependent upon rules set by the particular issuer, for example, credit limits and geographical limitations. Notification of a violation of these rules results in a declined transaction, and the consumer must contact the issuer to alter the rules or to address a declined transaction.
More recently, proxy card payment systems enable users to utilize a single card to access multiple financial accounts maintained by multiple issuers. The user receives a proxy card from the payment system and either creates a new payment system account or associates the proxy card with the user's digital wallet account already maintained by the payment system. The user then associates one or more financial card accounts with the proxy account. For example, the user can associate with the user's proxy card account multiple debit/credit cards maintained by multiple issuers (including the payment system operating as an issuer), stored value cards (for example, gift cards, prepaid cards, re-loadable transaction cards, exchange cards, and other forms of non-credit based value cards), loyalty cards or store rewards cards, value added service accounts (for example, coupons, vouchers for prepaid offers, redemption offers, and other forms of offers), and/or other forms of financial card accounts. The user applies the proxy card to a transaction with the merchant in a manner similar to the application of any financial card to a transaction. The merchant forwards the payment request to the acquirer, which forwards the payment request to the card network. The card network forwards the proxy card payment request to the payment system, which functions as the issuer for the payment request. The payment system can read proxy card account information from the payment request and can access the user's account associated with the proxy card. If the payment system is the issuer of the financial account, the payment system will approve or decline the transaction. If another issuer maintains the financial account, the payment system will generate and send a new payment request to the issuer via the card network. The payment system will receive the authorization message from the issuer via the card network if the transaction is approved. The payment system forwards an authorization to the acquirer through the card network, which forwards the authorization to the merchant. The merchant then approves the transaction.